The Ancient State of Puyŏ in Northeast Asia: Archeology and Historical Memory. By Mark E. Byington. Cambridge and London: Harvard University East Asia Center, 2016. xv + 398 pp. [ISBN: 9780674737198]
Journal Title: International Journal of Korean History - Year 2017, Vol 22, Issue 2
Abstract
The early history of Northeast Asia, particularly the region conventionally referred to as “Manchuria,” has a long and complex relationship with the polities, peoples, states, and cultures of the nation-states now commonly referred to as “Korea” and “China.” The ancient history of Manchuria, and especially the cultural affiliation of the early states and polities that existed there in the remote past, has recently been a topic of energetic debate among East Asian politicians and scholars, particularly since the People’s Republic of China launched the Northeast Project (Dongbei Gongcheng, 東北工程) in 2001 and the Republic of Korea responded by creating the Northeast Asia History Foundation (Tongbuga Yŏksa Chaedan, 東北亞歷史財團) in 2006. Mark Byington’s monograph on the ancient state of Puyŏ is a careful and detailed study of the archeology and historiography of the early Manchurian state Puyŏ, which was traditionally claimed by Koguryŏ (trad., 37 BCE–668 CE) in its founding legend and Paekche (trad., 18 BCE–660 CE) as the surname of its ruling family, and thus by later Korean historians as one of the mainsprings of the ancient Korean people. This monograph, based on his 2003 Ph.D. dissertation, gets at the heart of the academic issues surrounding the Puyŏ people by examining the evidence, both archeological and historiographical, in a balanced, exacting, and critical manner.
Authors and Affiliations
Richard D. McBride
Keywords
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- EP ID EP26457
- DOI https://doi.org/10.22372/ijkh.2017.22.2.183
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